- In the past, people used coal for gas for gas lights, domestic heating, railroad fuel and for steam engines.
-China was the only ancient civilazation that had coal recources.
-In 4000 BC Neolithic poeple started using coal by carving ornaments in it.
-During the Han Dynasty, coal was used for fuel
-During the Bronze Age, outcrop coal was used in Britain
-By 1961 coal was a major resource used to generate electricity
How we get energy from the power source:
Quick explanation of process: First coal is made into a fine powder, this is because it burns quicker in this form rather than whole coal does. The powder is burned in very high tempretures to produce hot gases and heat energy, these hot gases convert the water into steam. The steam is passed into a turbine contaning thousands of propeller like blades. These propellers spin very fast producing electricity.
Inputs and or Resources required for the power: coal
How the Resouce is transformed to produce electricity: coal-fine powder-gases-steam-electricity
Cost of the inputs/resources: In the US, coal costs 2000 dollars per short ton
Where the resource is from: We get coal from under the ground. The energy from coal is stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.To get it out we use surface mining aswell as underground mining. We use surface mining when the coal is less than 60 m underground. We use underground mining when the coal is about 300 m underground.
Impact of the resource extraction: When we extract coal from the ground, we ruin the land by creating a huge hole.
Affects of the power generation on the environment:
Outputs (pollution, waste, byproducts) from the power generation: a lot of pollution
Impact on people, animals or habitats; When the air is dirty and polluted it may make it difficult to breathe and it might make people and animals sick. Waste pollutes the environment and the habitats of many animals.
Other information:
-Today we produce over one billion tons of coal per year
-Today coal is mostly used to generate power.
-Low sulfur coal is used for powerplants
-The first power plants were run on water power or coal
Cost of building the generator: $1,300 per kilowatt hour of generation capacity. A 500 megawatt power plant costs about $650 million.
Time to build the generator: Atleast 36 months
Lifetime of power plant: 30 years
Cost of the energy produced to consumers:
Energy produced per power plant, per year: A 500 mega watt power plant produces 3.5 billion kwh per year.
The risks:
Risk of an accident, in a percentage
Result of a major accident: When mining for coal, the mines can collapse and kill many people working there.
Result of a minor accident
Best location for the power plant: ( I only found 1 website with this information and it says that the power plant can be everywhere.)
Disadvantages:
-It pollutes a lot and contributes to global warming
-It is a non-renewable resource
-It produces harmful gases
-It emmites carbon monooxide that is very poisonous and even 1% of it can make you die
- History:
- In the past, people used coal for gas for gas lights, domestic heating, railroad fuel and for steam engines.-China was the only ancient civilazation that had coal recources.
-In 4000 BC Neolithic poeple started using coal by carving ornaments in it.
-During the Han Dynasty, coal was used for fuel
-During the Bronze Age, outcrop coal was used in Britain
-By 1961 coal was a major resource used to generate electricity
- How we get energy from the power source:
- Quick explanation of process: First coal is made into a fine powder, this is because it burns quicker in this form rather than whole coal does. The powder is burned in very high tempretures to produce hot gases and heat energy, these hot gases convert the water into steam. The steam is passed into a turbine contaning thousands of propeller like blades. These propellers spin very fast producing electricity.
- Inputs and or Resources required for the power: coal
- How the Resouce is transformed to produce electricity: coal-fine powder-gases-steam-electricity
- Cost of the inputs/resources: In the US, coal costs 2000 dollars per short ton
- Where the resource is from: We get coal from under the ground. The energy from coal is stored by plants that lived hundreds of millions of years ago.To get it out we use surface mining aswell as underground mining. We use surface mining when the coal is less than 60 m underground. We use underground mining when the coal is about 300 m underground.
- Impact of the resource extraction: When we extract coal from the ground, we ruin the land by creating a huge hole.
- Affects of the power generation on the environment:
- Outputs (pollution, waste, byproducts) from the power generation: a lot of pollution
- Impact on people, animals or habitats; When the air is dirty and polluted it may make it difficult to breathe and it might make people and animals sick. Waste pollutes the environment and the habitats of many animals.
- Other information:
-Today we produce over one billion tons of coal per year-Today coal is mostly used to generate power.
-Low sulfur coal is used for powerplants
-The first power plants were run on water power or coal
Back to Grade 7 DT Projects 08